“We owe a debt of thanks to so many people,” said Tournament Director Gerald Goodman. “Chris Sullivan and the people at the Champions Tour’s Outback Steakhouse Pro-Am expressed their support to the PGA Tour for these new dates. Jay Overton and the staff at Innisbrook continue to do a super job making our course one of the pros’ favorites. We also are indebted to our volunteers who give so tirelessly of their time and will be asked for even more during our short turnaround.
In a later development, DamilerChrysler announced it will end its sponsorship arrangement with the Chrysler Championship after this year’s tournament. The news was not a surprise to local tournament officials.
“They were in negotiations a long time with the PGA Tour,” said Gerald Goodman. “We were hearing that they could be out and that they could be in.
It’s kind of an up and down range of emotions. But with the latest news concerning the car business and job cuts, it comes as no surprise to us. We’ve been bracing for this.”
Goodman does not expect difficulty in finding a new sponsor for the tournament. “We feel very confident that there will be a sponsor who will want to hook their name to our tournament in Tampa Bay,” said Goodman.
Boosted by astonishing growth in the Birdies for Tampa Bay Charities program, the 2005 Chrysler Championship nearly doubled last year’s record amount for charitable contributions. In January, the tournament announced that it had presented a record $2,610,000 to area charities, up from $1,260,000 in 2004.
The donation is among the seven largest on the PGA Tour this year, the highest of any PGA Tour event in Florida in 2005 and the biggest one-event donation in Tampa Bay sports history.
The total includes money raised through ticket sales, other tournament proceeds and the Birdies for Tampa Bay Charities program. More than 150 area charities benefited from the tournament. Academy Prep, the tournament’s primary direct charitable beneficiary, received $150,000. The total contribution since 1977 is now nearly $18 million.
